If you want to know more about the intentions of the Juncker Commission in the different policy fields, or simply want to know what other colleagues have achieved in their respective areas, you may want to have a look at ‘The European Union explained’ series. Targeting the general public, it […]

Bankscope is a database of 30,000 public and private banking institutions worldwide. The database provides information from Fitch Ratings and other sources, with search, analysis, visualisation and download functions. Bank reports contain consolidated and unconsolidated balance sheet and income statements with up to 200 data items and 36 pre-calculated ratios for each bank, with ratings reports, ownership data, and security and price information. Full details are on this Library page.

For the first time, the ECB has published an official account of a Governing Council monetary policy meeting. The account, issued on 19 February, covers the meeting of 21-22 January 2015 – providing background on the decision to approve a Euro area sovereign bond purchase programme (‘quantitative easing’) set to run from March 2015 to September 2016. A review of financial, economic and monetary developments and policy options is followed by a synopsis of the Governing Council’s discussion and monetary policy decisions. A PDF version is available at this link. The next monetary policy account is due for release on 2 April, via ECB > Press > Monetary policy accounts. The EUI Library maintains a Euro Resources directory and a European Data directory.

In recent decades, public enthusiasm for history and popular engagement with the past has grown dramatically. The popularity of history is manifested most visibly in the proliferation of television documentaries and historical dramas but it is also discernible in the rebirth of the historical novel, the organization of large-scale commemorations of historical anniversaries, the development of new historical museums and exhibitions, re-enactments and living history activities and the emergence of public history as a separate field of academic study.